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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30073068">A Walk Along the Ithian Road</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/RisalSoran/pseuds/RisalSoran'>RisalSoran</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Family is Everything [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>A Stitch in Time - Andrew J. Robinson, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Autism, Elim Garak as a child, Gen, Kardasi, Pre-Canon Cardassia, autistic elim garak</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 19:06:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,165</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30073068</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/RisalSoran/pseuds/RisalSoran</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It is a long walk along the Ithian Road from their home in the Paldar Sector to the Citizens' Library of East Torr, but Mila decides Elim is ready to accompany her.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Elim Garak &amp; Mila Garak</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Family is Everything [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2189172</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Walk Along the Ithian Road</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I, unfortunately, do not speak Kardasi. Elim and Mila speak a service class dialect that's based mostly on the Kardasi from Vyc &amp; Tinsnip's English-Kardasi Dictionary and Tumblr page. Differences are because they speak a different dialect; errors are my own. </p><p>Ithian trees are from Enigma Tales, by Una McCormack</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Mila pulled her cloak tight against the pre-dawn chill. It was indeed pleasant to be out-of-doors, but it was colder than she had expected, so late in the Spring. She turned her head slightly to surreptitiously check on her son. Elim was looking up at the sky, watching the light-show that was the Taluvian Constellations with obvious delight. He, too, was holding his cloak tightly, but he did not otherwise seem bothered by the cold.</p><p>Nonetheless, Mila began walking faster. Ra'ajev would not rise for another chosal, and by the time it began to provide noticeable warmth, they would long since have arrived at their destination – the Citizens' Library of East Torr.</p><p>This would be Elim's first trip to a Citizens' Library, though he had of course been to the Children's Library of Tarlak many times, and Mila worried. Her child had such a pronounced tendency to speak out of turn, at high volumes, which simply wouldn't do at any Citizen's Library. Yet he had earned the opportunity to try. For the first time, he had managed to attend classes for an entire octet without once speaking out of turn in class. Perhaps he would do the same at the Library.</p><p>But first, he had to walk there. It would be a long walk. It would take them at least two chosali. They would follow the walking-path of the Primary Road of Kardasi'or, which Tolan insisted on calling the Ithian Road, as if it were the only road lined with ithian trees. There would be crowds of people to walk amongst, and, though it was still dark, there would, later in the day, be bright light, especially once they left the shaded Ithian Road and moved on to a series of secondary roads.</p><p>Mila glanced again at Elim. He was shivering, though he had not yet ceased watching the Constellations, and they were still far from their destination.</p><p>Well. Running along the walking-paths beside the primary road might be undignified for one of her age, but it could not be avoided without a significant detour. “Elim. Let's run for a while.”</p><p>Elim tore his gaze from the Constellations and looked dubiously at the walking-path ahead, which, though nearly devoid of pedestrians, was not entirely so.</p><p>“We will slow to a walk when people approach,” Mila assured him. She increased her pace to a slow-run, one the boy could easily match. A moment later, Elim began running, too. He ran alongside her for a moment, and then darted ahead.</p><p>Mila maintained her pace. The child would tire soon enough at his current speed, and the necessity of remaining near would allow him to slow with no shame when he was ready.</p><p>By the time they entered the Tarlak Sector, the light of Ra'ajev was beginning to color the sky. Elim had slowed to match Mila's pace. By the time they reached the Commemorative Grounds, he began to lag behind. Mila slowed to a walk.</p><p>They walked past the Grounds, pausing briefly to pay their respects to those commemorated by the various memorials and monuments, and to appreciate the work Tolan put into maintaining the immaculate Grounds, before continuing on their way.</p><p>Ra'ajev itself was visible in the sky when they entered the Barvonok Sector. People bustled about the busy streets and business centers, making their way to their respective work-places, breakfasting in a restaurant or geleta-shop, or simply availing themselves of a shaded walking-path to discuss the day's work and other topics of interest with colleagues before the scorching mid-day heat made such walks impractical.</p><p>Mila was surprised, but pleased, with Elim's reaction to the crowds. He was walking much closer to her than he usually did, and he didn't respond to any of the friendly gestures of greeting offered to him by various passers-by, but he spoke not a word of protest. Even when a large man wearing a Financial Services uniform and a harried expression accidentally bumped into him, with a cursory murmured word of apology, Elim merely flinched away and stepped in even closer.</p><p>They continued on their way, leaving Barvonok behind and entering into North Torr. The walking-paths here were less pleasant, without the shade of the ithian trees that were nearly ubiquitous along the roads of the more affluent northern sectors, and shaded only sporadically by some of the taller buildings, but the day was still young, and the warmth of Ra'ajev felt pleasant on their still-chilled bodies.</p><p>Before long, the warmth ceased being so pleasant. Mila pulled down her hood and looked at Elim. He was staring, wide-eyed, at the crowd of people traversing the same path. Mila was all too familiar with <em>that</em> expression. “It has been a long walk, Elim. You are doing well, and we are not far from our destination. Do you need to rest, or can you keep going?”</p><p>Elim glanced at her with both eye-ridges raised in total astonishment. “This is a walking-path! It's not a place to rest,” he pointed out. The wide-eyed, almost vacant expression he had worn a moment ago was gone.</p><p>Mila smiled. Her attempt at distraction had been successful. “That is true, but I can carry you. For a while.”</p><p>“You're … no, that's not right. <em>I'm</em> too big to carry.”</p><p><em>Perhaps, but you are tired enough to be bothered by the crowds and to be confusing your words, </em>she thought, but did not say aloud. “You're too big for me to carry without asking you first,” Mila explained. “Anyone can be carried when they get tired. You're still small enough <em>I</em> can carry you. A bigger person might need to ride in a skimmer.”</p><p>“Or a h'zem't'zika, if it's big enough and strong enough.”</p><p>“That, too.”</p><p>“Can I ride a h'zem't'zika?”</p><p>“Perhaps, but not today. We do not have one, and they are not permitted in the Library.”</p><p>Elim dipped his head in acknowledgment, and they continued along the Road.</p><p>* * *</p><p>Elim stepped out of the shade of an enormous Collective Housing Unit. The glaring-bright light of Ra'ajev stabbed into his eyes, and he pulled his hood lower so it covered his eye-ridges and shaded his eyes a little, but that didn't help much. Not even with his eyes squinted almost all the way closed. And <em>that </em>made it hard to see very much. But he would not complain. He was much too old to complain. And he knew the light of Ra'ajev was good. Tolan said so. The light made everything warm, and it made the land-plants and the water-plants grow. But then it got too bright, and it wasn't good anymore. It was just <em>bright</em>.</p><p>“Look, Elim!” Ad' said, gesturing toward a row of ithian trees peeking out from behind a smaller Collective Housing Unit. “That is the way we'll take to the Library.”</p><p>Elim looked, raising his head and carefully keeping his eyes mostly shut. “It has trees!”</p><p>Ad' chuckled. “Yes, cestUllin. It has trees.”</p><p>“May we run? Please?”</p><p>“Not now. Elim, look how many people are following the same path! It is much too crowded for running.”</p><p>Elim did not look. It was too bright to look. Instead, he inclined his head. But he wished he could run. They were so close to the shade-trees!</p><p>He continued walking.</p><p>“You can open your eyes now, Elim.”</p><p>Elim opened his eyes cautiously. The first thing he saw was mottled gray-tan bark, less than five of his strides ahead. He looked up. “Ithian trees! And shaaaade!” He darted forward and pressed his hands against the rough bark. The tree welcomed him with cool shade and less-dry air. He was out of the bright light!</p><p>“Elim, you mustn't run ahead like that,” Mila scolded him when she caught up.</p><p>“I'm sorry,” he said obediently. But he wasn't sorry. Mila's voice didn't sound angry, and the shade was so much nicer!</p><p>He looked up, and froze.</p><p>The path wasn't almost empty except for a few people, now. It was ... <em>teeming</em> with people. There were soldiers in their angular uniforms, students and teachers of the University in their colorful robes, mothers carrying their infants in brightly colored carrying-bags, all sorts of people wearing trousers and tunics and robes in the charcoal, slate, and taupe of Ar'wathan wool and in the beige and browns of Inkarian wool, and in hundreds of different shades of color of dyed cloth of all kinds; a forest of colors; too many colors, pressing in around him. He couldn't move! There was nowhere to <em>go!</em></p><p>“Elim, we are almost there,” Ad' announced, as calmly as if she were announcing an upcoming meal right at the table in their own home. “Look! Do you see the s'ketic trees and the big stone building behind them?”</p><p>Elim closed his eyes and took a deep breath, just like Tolan told him to do when things got to be too much. He opened his eyes. The crush of people seemed a little farther away.</p><p>He looked at the enormous kerreth'garI building far ahead, behind a linear grove of s'ketic trees. It did not look much like the Children's Library in the Tarlak Sector, except they both had stone walls and glass windows and slate roofs. This building was much bigger and taller, and it had a pyramidal roof with a curved spire at the top.</p><p>“Elim? Do you see the stone building ahead of us? The one with the spire and the pyramid?”</p><p>“Yes. I see it!” Elim made his tired legs walk a little faster, and soon they reached the end of the rows of ithian trees just before the final cross-road before they reached the Library.</p><p>He stepped out of the shade.</p><p>The light beyond the trees was much too bright. It shone off the paving-stone of the path, and it shone off the kerreth'garI walls of the Library, and it shone off the glass windows. And it <em>hurt!</em> Elim shut his eyes tight and tried not to make a sound. He didn't make a <em>loud</em> sound, but Ad' heard him anyway.</p><p>“Elim? What's wrong?” she asked.</p><p>He made himself open his eyes to answer, but the light was still there. It was still too bright. He closed his eyes tight again. He wanted to turn around and run back to the shade-trees, but he didn't do that. He was much too old to run away from bright light. He knew <em>that. </em>Ja'ad'jucem told him. Instead, he stood still and covered his eyes with his hands.</p><p>“Ah. Too bright?” Ad' asked.</p><p>Elim remembered how to answer. He lowered his head for a moment, and then raised it again.</p><p>“Let's go inside, Elim. It won't be as bright there.”</p><p>Elim backed away. To get inside, he would have to walk up the path, up the stairs, and through the doors. And they were all much too bright.</p><p>“Elim. Stop.” Mila's voice snapped at him.</p><p>He froze. A group of pedestrians passed him. Probably he almost bumped into them, but nobody said anything. He stopped in time. Elim stood still and he waited, and he didn't cry. He was much too old to cry. His eyes were crying all by themselves. Well, not all by themselves. The bright light was making them cry.</p><p>Something touched his hand.</p><p>“Elim. Remain still,” Ad' said in her too-quiet and too-calm voice. It was the voice she used when he lost control. Ja'ad said it was when he was behaving like a toddler, only he didn't use the voice Ad' was using. He used a scary angry voice that told him if he didn't stop he'd feel the strap or spend some time in the closet.</p><p><em>There's no closet here. There's no strap here. Ja'ad is not here,</em> he tried to reassure himself. But he didn't want to lose control, whether Ja'ad was near with closet and strap or not. He didn't want to behave like a toddler.</p><p>He made himself stand still.</p><p>Something touched his hand again. This time he only jumped a little. A moment later he realized the some<em>thing</em> was some<em>one – </em>Ad', trying to take his hand<em>.</em></p><p>He took her hand and clutched it tight.</p><p>“Thank you, Elim. Now, we're going to walk to the Library. It will be a short walk.”</p><p>Elim took a step, and stopped. He opened his eyes just a little. Just enough to see where he was going. He didn't want to bump into anybody, and he didn't want anybody to bump into him.</p><p>Ad' led the way up the path and up the stairs.</p><p>“Here we are, Elim. Open your eyes, now.”</p><p>Elim slitted his eyes open. Ad' was right. They were standing at the huge double-doors. The doors were dark bronze with decorative carvings, and they were not too bright. The over-hang of the lower-roof shielded the doors.</p><p>They were at the Citizens' Library. Ad' would let him select books to take home and read, and he would be out of the bright light!</p><p>Elim smiled.</p><p>Ad' opened the door, and Elim stepped inside.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Ad'			        Mom, Mommy<br/>cestUllin	        	valued child<br/>ja'ad'jucem		uncle (respected superior + parental/familial marker + friend)<br/>ja'ad			        uncle (shortened/informal form)<br/>chosal			time unit<br/>-i  			        plural marker (service class dialect)<br/>kerreth'garI		white-stone<br/>s'ketic trees		umbrella-trees</p></blockquote></div></div>
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